A woman who let her hair grow for five years has finally had it cut, donating the hair to a hospital to be made into wigs for cancer patients who have lost theirs during treatment.
Hsu Shu-ting, 26, made the decision to let her hair grow out during a visit to a cancer ward at the Buddhist Tzu-Chi General Hospital when she was in her third year at university. On the ward she saw patients who had lost their hair during chemotherapy, but the price of a wig made from human hair would have set them back at least NT$6,000.
Hsu prefers to have short hair, but she deliberately let it grow for five years without trimming, dying or perming it. On top of that, she spent NT$600 per week to wash it at a salon, eventually spending almost NT$100,000 on her 95cm-long thigh-length hair.
Hsu said she was surprised that the hair weighed as little as 189g, but that serves as a reminder that her burden over the years has been nothing compared to the suffering of the cancer patients. She has already resolved to let her hair grow for another five years, and will continue to do so until her hair quality is no longer good enough to make wigs.
Coincidentally, 50 years ago Hsu’s mother, Chen Su-jen, also let her grow for five years, before donating it to an aunt who then made a wig out of the hair. The aunt cherished this unusual gift until she passed away 40 years later.
Hsu said that due to its prodigious length, her choice of hairstyle was limited to either a ponytail or a braid, and in the summer she would suffer from the heat of the accumulated hair. Washing the hair also became increasingly troublesome and could sometimes take up to an hour, leaving her sore around the neck and waist. She asked the hospital if it was OK to cut it on numerous occasions, but they always asked her to wait until it reached her thighs.
Despite the hardships, as she held the mass of hair in her hands, Hsu said she still felt a little sad to let go of it.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY TAIJING WU)
一位女子將留了五年的頭髮剪掉，捐給在治療過程中失去頭髮的癌症病患製作假髮。
二十六歲的許舒婷大三那年參觀佛教慈濟綜合醫院癌症病房時決定蓄髮。她在那邊看到癌症病患因接受化學治療而掉髮，但一頂真髮製成的假髮至少要價六千元。
許舒婷愛留短髮，但是她為了將頭髮捐出來，刻意連續五年蓄髮，不剪不染也不燙髮。除此之外，她每星期還花六百元上美容院洗髮，至今已花費近十萬元在她那頭約九十五公分、長及大腿的頭髮上。
她說這五年來累積的頭髮才一百八十九克重，讓她感到很驚訝，但她認為這種奉獻，比起癌症病患所承受的痛苦算是小事。她已決定再花下一個五年蓄髮給癌症病患，直到髮質不能用為止。
無獨有偶，在五十年前，許舒婷的母親陳素珍也把留了五年的頭髮送給頭髮稀疏的阿姨做假髮。這位阿姨珍愛這份禮物近四十年，直到往生。
許舒婷表示，因為要留髮助人，所以只能綁馬尾或辮子。到了夏天，頂上悶熱，讓她很難受，而且清洗也變得不容易，有時洗個頭要花上一小時，洗完頭髮脖子跟腰都覺得很酸，讓她忍不住問慈濟醫院可不可以剪頭髮了，但醫院總是說要留到大腿才行。
熬過來的許舒婷手捧著剪下來的三千煩惱絲，說她還真有點捨不得。
（自由時報記者蘇孟娟）
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